News Sonic Frontiers Trailer

[KHCast]

If the games going all out with the BotW inspirations, I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess the story is gonna be very loose, with maybe, “optional” story pieces, that you can ignore if you choose, to keep the main gameplay pretty quiet and ambiguous. Which won’t lie, would be interesting to see Sonic team try their hand at. Especially if there are multiple endings based on what you’ve done 

[___]

31 minutes ago, Razule said:

It isn't necessarily because they're embarrassed. It just might not align with their marketing strategy. 

If that's the case, I think it's a dumb marketing strategy. I can't think of a single other open-world game that revealed nothing but bare maps. They have no incentive not to show even a little bit of something. It's like if a movie trailer had no film footage and was  just photos of the sets before the actors showed up. What's the point?

28 minutes ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

I know we like to stab Sonic Team in the balls here, but you reach a point of genuinely insulting the intelligence of the team when you suggest that a game that will have been in development for almost six years when it releases somehow doesn't have the extremely basic and expected generic Sonic objects completed in any form now..

The implication is more that they make something, don't like it, scrap it, start over, repeat.  And I don't find the idea that they have absolutely nothing to be plausible for the record. And do we have confirmation on when development started? Forces came out 4-5 years after Lost World but it wasn't in development for that long.

[Razule]

1 hour ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

Update: somehow, it actually is Amy?

Not sure if I'm mixing in less credible leaks, but a September one mentioned Tails, Amy, Knuckles radioing in, while the ghost girl is his main companion.

On the slightly more credible side, one that popped up the same day as the first teaser specifically calls the ghost "a human(?)". 

[Enesephus]

I feel like if the ghost girl was Amy the leaker probably would have recognized her, since I assume they had to see her design in order to describe her in that way. Of course, I guess she could have just been presented as a spirit orb or something, Tikal-style.

 

Not gonna lie, if the ghost girl is just Amy, I'm gonna be a tad disappointed. I suppose Amy getting to play a bigger role in the plot could be cool, but I was kinda hoping for a new character, especially if they were going to be humanoid in design.

[Zaysho]

Is it possible the scrambled voice was just mistaken for a ghost and it's just Amy guiding Sonic via radio? Also, if it is Amy, I think Cindy Robinson left the same time Roger was fired the first time so that could also lend to no one realizing it was meant to be her, but that depends on how early voice stuff was recorded and if that kind of thing would really be in what seemed to be focus tests.

[Enesephus]

3 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

Is it possible the scrambled voice was just mistaken for a ghost and it's just Amy guiding Sonic via radio?

Maybe, but in the original leak, it's mentioned that a ghost girl refills your rings at one point, so I assume she must be able to take some kind of visible form.

/v/ - Video Games » Thread #539349521 (b4k.co)

[KHCast]

If there’s more ghosts that give Sonic certain abilities, I’m gonna fuckin laugh at how literal Sega is being with this botw thing 

[Natie]

Hopefully in the next full year's worth of development they'll have something game-wise to show us.

All I can say is I don't agree with this art direction for Sonic, but it looks really well put together for what it is and shows the sign of a development process that has had time and a budget. (assuming this is hopefully not all they've completed)

[MetalSkulkBane]

Decade ago this would be enough to hype me. Now I'm waiting for more. (Flynn aside, OMG).

BTW, I have a very petty complain. I don't like the tittle.

I don't like that Sonic FROntierS is a next game right after Sonic FORceS. It's just similar enough that casual listener could get confused. I can't help but imagine disappointed kids when Grandma claimed she got the game they wanted.

Now that I think about this, Sonic has weird tradition of releasing similar named games close to each other. Sonic 1 16/8 bit. Sonic Blast & 3D Blast. Adventure & Advance. Rivals & Riders. But at least then it was always a home console vs handheld.

[JezMM]

4 hours ago, Celestia said:

It would actually be pretty cool if the "proper" levels had a different art style. I'm surprised more games don't play with that sort of thing.

This would be pretty cool but it's definitely a concern of mine that we'll have all the interesting environments have basic platforming with mostly action-adventure gameplay, while all the "real platforming" will be contained in generic Portal test chambers/BotW shrines/Game Land nonsense.

4 hours ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

-The anger over Sonic's model and pose is so hilariously dumb I hope they keep using them for every game just to piss you weirdos off

I think the model is fine (in a vacuum at least - the game has a completely new feel and so slapping the model in just look - well, slapped in), but the pose thing is really fair.  After content like Mania Adventures and the Movie, I think folks are allowed to not be called weirdos for wanting Sonic to have some form of animation and life to him during an idle pose and considering it a red flag when he doesn't.

1 hour ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

Update: somehow, it actually is Amy?

Amy having a significant role here would be real neat, and Ian Flynn writing definitely gives me hope for that.

 

 

So yeah... overall thoughts here are that I'm definitely excited for them to try this out.  All I want though is to do some gosh darned 3D platforming as Sonic though and my fear is I'll be mostly just running around on the overworld and then they'll fall back into old habits for whatever this game's equivilent of BotW shrines is and it'll be 2D everywhere (with aforementioned generic test chamber settings to boot).  The environment does look suitably dense with places to go to, but the means of getting there needs to be fun in it's own right too.  And yeah I'm pretty disappointed at how generic this looks.  BotW, Genshin Impact and PSO2NGS have all given us open world grassy ghibli mountains to explore and those are just the games I know, I'm sure there's other BotW copycats too.  Imagine an open world Sonic which could've given us biomes that only Sonic could pull off, like your Studiopolises or Scrap Brains.  But I guess we knew from the first teaser we weren't getting that as soon as the leaks about it being open world began to surface.

Only other stray thought is that it's a shame that Tee Lopes has said he's not composing for the game - if they DO go for the whole "Portal Test Chamber" angle for the platforming areas, he'd have been the perfect composer for them if they wanted those to have a different musical feel to match.

[Sega DogTagz]

35 minutes ago, Gloved Animal said:

If that's the case, I think it's a dumb marketing strategy.

Pssh. That's just the salt talking.  This is basic synergy marketing 101

 

They just dropped a nameplate in front of fans that were ginned up from the movie. It was never supposed to be anything more than a Teaser and a name drop. They didn't have to show anything. They just needed an excuse to splash the name of the game on the screen for 3 seconds, so some of that good publicity rubs off on them.

 

Doesn't hurt that the movie trailer kill'd it too.

 

 

 

[Shaddy Zaphod]

11 minutes ago, JezMM said:

I think the model is fine (in a vacuum at least - the game has a completely new feel and so slapping the model in just look - well, slapped in), but the pose thing is really fair.  After content like Mania Adventures and the Movie, I think folks are allowed to not be called weirdos for wanting Sonic to have some form of animation and life to him during an idle pose and considering it a red flag when he doesn't.

See, I get this; Not wanting animations to be reused, being tired of Sonic's design since Unleashed, even -- that's not my issue. My issue is that it's weird to me that people would complain about them not making a new model simply because it resembles Forces, when Sonic's models across Unleashed, Colors, Gens, Lost World and Forces are all nearly identical to one another minus some details so minor that it's weird to treat it like it's a different design. For all we know, this is a new model and you can't tell because it's exactly like the old ones. It's weird to get angry that Sonic is standing with one foot forward and his hands clenched instead of stretched out at his sides. I am not saying Sonic shouldn't have animations, just that it's hilarious to see people get worked up over specifically this pose and this quill length and this shoe shape.

[SonicFanForLife]

The only thing about the trailer that disappointed me was the Forces design. Why doesn't the in-game model reflect the CG clips? Sonic looked just fine until the in-game model showed up. His quills are too short (especially the one on top), his torso is too big, his hands are too small, the backs of his shoes are too round. The only thing I can't tell is his shade of blue, which was too light in Forces. The weird thing is that all the current CG stock art, merchandise, and spin-off titles use the Unleashed/Generations design.

Sonic Frontiers CG clips - Unleashed/Generations design

Sonic Frontiers In-game model - Forces design

Me - ???

In the end, I hope that it was just a placeholder model, but that's probably unlikely.

[Zaysho]

14 minutes ago, Enesephus said:

Maybe, but in the original leak, it's mentioned that a ghost girl refills your rings at one point, so I assume she must be able to take some kind of visible form.

/v/ - Video Games » Thread #539349521 (b4k.co)

I think something similar was corroborated in that video that was making rounds around here (which, yeah, grain of salt since some things in here were a little too specific for the stage the game was at and it could've been piggybacking for all I know). I think what I'm trying to figure out at this point is if it's just a voice that was heard and there wasn't a physical form seen. It would sort of track with the apparent cyberspace theming that Sonic might not be in his usual world and he has someone guiding him from outside of it.

I'm just spitballing off that info though. Both mention ghosts but not if they're seen and the trailer at most suggests Sonic is following a voice.

[JezMM]

32 minutes ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

See, I get this; Not wanting animations to be reused, being tired of Sonic's design since Unleashed, even -- that's not my issue. My issue is that it's weird to me that people would complain about them not making a new model simply because it resembles Forces, when Sonic's models across Unleashed, Colors, Gens, Lost World and Forces are all nearly identical to one another minus some details so minor that it's weird to treat it like it's a different design. For all we know, this is a new model and you can't tell because it's exactly like the old ones. It's weird to get angry that Sonic is standing with one foot forward and his hands clenched instead of stretched out at his sides. I am not saying Sonic shouldn't have animations, just that it's hilarious to see people get worked up over specifically this pose and this quill length and this shoe shape.

I mean maybe it is a new model, but if people don't like the Forces one and it looks like the Forces one... it might as well be the Forces one.  I don't personally care a HUGE deal but I think the reason people are so bent out of shape about it is twofold:

• Forces was a duff game and they'd rather this brand new venture not share any DNA or aesthetics with it because it will evoke memories of Forces for them to some degree or another (see also: people not being keen on the various music pieces that debuted in 2006 (Eggman's theme, the 1up jingle and (in Smash) the stage clear theme) sticking around as mainstays in the series for quite a while for similar reasons).
• It suggests Sonic Team put no thought into whether the entity we'll be controlling should harmonise with the new ideas and aesthetics being presented in the environment.  ...Or they did, and the answer was either "no, he should look the same as the other games always" or "he fits in fine" - both subjective opinions I don't think are unreasonable to disagree with.

I do feel both the above things anyway - not intensely but to some small degree.  Generally I just think it was a missed opportunity to just do something a bit fresh and creative with Sonic's design to match what will hopefully be something fresh and creative with the gameplay.

[Salamander]

I'm relieved to see that I'm not alone in thinking the environment looks agonisingly generic.  Just take all the environment shots from that trailer, and challenge a random game-savvy person to guess what franchise it's from: They will never guess Sonic, there is absolutely nothing to tie this environmental design to Sonic's history at all.  I get zero sense of style here, it just looks like a bland copy and paste of the same aesthetic from any number of action-adventure open-worlds which have come before.  The only thing I can say in its defence is that it was obvious from the initial teaser that they were going for a generic "realistic" style, so I was already mentally prepared.

The story leaks are more promising, though I'd be surprised if the mystery "ghost girl" turned out to be Amy unless ghost girl was just a placeholder all along (which could happen?).  Given what we've been told, I'd imagine that ghost girl is actually an AI, possibly an uploaded consciousness of someone from whatever ancient civilisation we're dealing with here is?  Cyber Tikal, if you like.  What a bore if it turns out to be yet another "Sonic" game that's actually just about humans, though!

[Natie]

1 hour ago, JezMM said:

• Forces was a duff game and they'd rather this brand new venture not share any DNA or aesthetics with it because it will evoke memories of Forces for them to some degree or another (see also: people not being keen on the various music pieces that debuted in 2006 (Eggman's theme, the 1up jingle and (in Smash) the stage clear theme) sticking around as mainstays in the series for quite a while for similar reasons).
• It suggests Sonic Team put no thought into whether the entity we'll be controlling should harmonise with the new ideas and aesthetics being presented in the environment.  ...Or they did, and the answer was either "no, he should look the same as the other games always" or "he fits in fine" - both subjective opinions I don't think are unreasonable to disagree with.

Those are valid reasons, but all I ever see about it is "The quills are exactly 4.0867cm too short and Sonic is 009DFF Blue instead of 0A0AFF Blue and I couldn't be more outraged by this hideousness" and it just comes off as insanely pedantic.

I consider myself pretty anal about the art direction and character designs in this series and not even I noticed that stuff until it was pointed out. 

[Lord-Dreamerz]

Hopefully the open world is built differently compared to the trailer, because somebody else i read made a good point. where are the loops? the ramps? the weird shape roads or hills? there is no point in having a speedy character like Sonic in a open world game if nothing takes advantage of his speed & action based movement. While the small open world of Sonic Utopia needed far more content to feel like a proper game, but at least it got the whole physics playground part right.

I still hate how SonicTeam did the exact thing i didn't want to see them do for a open world game, which was simply throwing Sonic into some random generic grassy field & mountain landscape with some rocky ruins sprinkled across, all of which looks ripped right out of any other modern RPG/open world game. Where is the sense of surreal style and wonder? Sure nobody wanted them to just do Green Hill zone yet again... but is this unmemorable thing SonicTeam's only answer to that? Just feels like they took a quick look at couple popular open world games from the past 5 years, copied it and called it a day.

Rumors say the so called cyber space levels will be Generations style levels with yet again revisited iconic level themes such as a Green Hill inspired zone... but that doesn't make it better, and in fact it would further showcase they are not really super inspired here. I know it may not seem like it really matters, but as a surreal otherworldly artist & fan, I really want to see the series push to greater heights, not give-up and just copy what everybody else does, nor do i want to see them merely rehash their old ideas either. They can do better then this.

Now am I saying the game will be bad? No. Even to me it could still end up perfectly fine outside of my preferences. I do hope they story will be good and it is something i am looking forward to to seeing the result of... because good story telling is something we been missing in the games for ages, it gets tiresome how mostly only the comic side of the franchise get the best stories nowadays.

[Red Hot Jack]

I have so many thoughts... even without gameplay. Let's go with pros and cons

+ The landscape view with Forces Sonic model is definitely in-game, it looks so much different from the CGI. I can tell this is Kishimoto's hand

+IAN FLYNN + THE VIBE OF THE GAME has me honestly hyped. It's the perfect time

+ WIDE OPEN ENVIRONMENTS. It's an island alright, I honestly like the setting, it looks straight out of breath of the wild in a positive way.

+ The Story premise is so cool, Eggman is the main villain and in a game this big scale I wouldn't want it other way, but there are also other evil forces at work, like his program SAGE and the "ominous threats" from the island itself. It looks nature vs technology which is absolutely a Sonic theme

+ Didn't Ian say... Chaos Emeralds? Not long ago, and the leaks said the stages would give you the emeralds. I hope this ties into their origins somehow but it's too early to say.

+ The cast is present. Thank Lord... I mean, if we wanted to say "it looks absolutely generic and unSonic-like" which had me worried, it wouldn't have the cast, and the thought that apparently Amy IS the ghost girl has me intrigued. But yeah, we'll see.

Cons:

- No gameplay, this is a bummer, means it's not ready to show and that's worrying me, it's out next year, I get we are going to see it in the next months, but I'm still worried.

- Kishimoto directs. That says all. How would he go from Forces to the biggest scope Sonic game is the real mystery here.

- Sonic as only playable character but I figured that already.

- Not much info on the actual game but rather the premise. I'm perplexed...

- Not enough Sonic elements in gameplay because there is no gameplay, no objects not even rings because it's like a tech demo.

Now, I want to say I'm not worried about one thing in specific, and that's graphics, they are not supposed to be that amazing, because the game is to release on Switch too, and likely be the best selling version, what people will play the most, I don't want that to look and play shit. 

I'm really worried about the Switch version so I hope it's not too realistic and graphically perfect for that reason.

Then the lack of gameplay is another level of scary. Kishimoto directing is scary. 

Although... there is no reason to assume "we didn't see gameplay = the game sucks oh GOD IT WILL SUCK" that's just doom and gloom.

I agree though, I definitely wanted to see more and not just the world of Frontiers. Give me more!

 

[FlameStream]

This looks and sounds like a paradigm shift in many aspects.

I am very fine with the idea that this may not be a platformer game. A slower Sonic with combat focus actually solves one of the issue in game making sustainability regarding Sonic. Moreover, you can more easily introduce other characters since they wouldn't need to be supahfast to adhere to levels with that particular aspect of Sonic involved.

I've always preferred the more grounded environment that Adventure went with. So for that again, it's a plus in my books.

Ian in having a role in the story/scenario sounds nice. But I just wonder how well integrated it is this time. For many games lately, story seemed to have been something crafted after the levels rather than along with it.

 

[Red Hot Jack]

An article by the way:

Quote

This new game is another 3D entry in the blue blur's catalogue. The story will follow Sonic and his pals as they pursue long-time rival, Dr. Eggman, after he loses control of an “ancient technology.”

Sonic Frontiers will bring Sonic fans an all-new type of Sonic experience set in a dangerous and vast world where anything is possible, and where you will have the freedom to explore and open-zone realm. Check out the trailer below.

“Sonic Frontiers is a huge leap forward for the franchise, delivering an evolved gameplay experience that can be enjoyed by longtime Sonic fans and action-adventure enthusiasts alike,” says Takashi Iizuka, creative officer at Sonic Team USA said in a release.

“With the effort of the talented developers at Sonic Team Japan, we’ve created an all-new style of gameplay experience for Sonic the Hedgehog, where players will be able to explore lush and expansive landscapes with Sonic’s signature speed and abilities.

"There’s sure to be lots of twists and turns around every corner in ‘Sonic Frontiers,’ and we’re excited to unveil more information about the game over the coming months.”

https://www.vg247.com/sonic-frontiers-2022-announcement-trailer

Quotes from Iizuka included.

I dunno... they seem confident at least? It definitely looks like an evolution and very ambitious which is a change... but also a responsibility, in fact they have to live up to THAT. Whether they succeed remains to be seen...

[Piko]

As gorgeous as the game looks, it kinda gives me “SEGA, HIRE THIS MAN!” vibes. None of the environments shown scream Sonic to me. Hopefully the final game will have a somewhat distinct visual identity.

[Ajavalo]

Something worth noting about the landscapes: they clearly took out all in-game objects to focus on the scenery and graphics. But we can see platforms in the distance, some ramps, structures to climb, walls to run on and gaps to cross. And many of the structures shown follow a pattern reminiscent of the gliph seen in the reveal trailer from May.

We need a gameplay trailer more than ever, definitely. I like what the leaks say, but Sonic Team have a huge challenge indeed.

[Jango]

I hope this is footage from at least a year ago (and I think it is), and not from last week. If it's coming out in late 2022 and that's all they have, even if they choose to hide itens and enemies on purpose for whatever reason, then I really don't see a good future ahead. That "trailer" felt like the kind of test demo you'd usually have done by the first year of development. Unless Sonic Team spent yet again 3 years on a lightning engine and only barely a year on the actual videogame.

 

[Red Hot Jack]

1 minute ago, Jango said:

I hope this is footage from at least a year ago (and I think it is), and not from last week. If it's coming out in late 2022 and that's all they have, even if they choose to hide itens and enemies on purpose for whatever reason, then I really don't see a good future ahead. That "trailer" felt like the kind of test demo you'd usually have done by the first year of development. Unless Sonic Team spent yet again 3 years on a lightning engine and only barely a year on the actual videogame.

 

(for the record, I agree)